‘Toy Story 4’ A Great Sequel, But Only A Really Good ‘Toy Story’ Movie

     Toy Story is one of the most iconic and well acclaimed movie series of all time, especially in the animation world. After a 3^rd movie that supposedly ended the franchise, most said that there’s no way there could be another film. Shockingly, Pixar has now made an attempt to continue what many thought had a perfect ending with Toy Story 4. With all the doubts and how good the end of the trilogy was, would this possibly unneeded 4^th installment live up to the stands of what the other films were? The answer is both yes and no. Toy Story 4 does stand its own as a great sequel, properly expanding upon its characters and world, however in comparison to the other film, it doesn’t quite reach the highs emotionally that the other three films met.

A Better Epilogue than a Continuation of Three

     The Fourth Toy Story has the toys dealing with Bonnie starting Kindergarten, where they end up meeting a new friend she created known as Forky. When a road trip with her family gets a bit chaotic with Forky becoming missing, it’s up to Woody to find him and along the way; he ends up encountering both familiar and new faces on his new journey. In many ways, Toy Story 4 continues the franchise in a lot of clever ways in terms of what the world of Toy Story is like, giving some very unique ideas and morals the franchise. This is mostly dealing with the characters as we see a lot of growth for most of the major ones and some of the new ones introduced bring in a lot of charm, emotion and depth that every single Toy Story movie had to offer. It still continues that trend of being very charming movies that hit the emotional punch at the right places, but there is a downside. The biggest obstacle Toy Story 4 has to face is following up an ending that was so wrapped tight and perfectly told with the Third movie. Unfortunately the way it wraps up in this movie, while is a great idea and does have a lot of emotional weight to it, doesn’t quite hold a candle to how the third movie concluded its story. Without revealing too much, it does contains emotional weight, but also feels a bit rushed in a sense when it concluded as maybe there could have been more of a built up to this ending. As it stands, it’s a great way to conclude the series, but the way getting there and how quickly it felt when we got to this ending, it doesn’t feel as earned as it probably should. Not to say the ending or the movie itself is poorly written, because there’s still a lot done excellently here, and as sequels go, it doesn’t loses its steam as much as one would initially expect. As it stands, while 3 is a more satisfying and proper conclusion to Toy Story, 4 serves as a very good epilogue for the series, as it ties up more loose ends and character conclusion that was refreshing to see in this film. This makes for a great movie that isn’t as good as its predecessors, but still well written and a good expansion on the franchise.

Great Additions to the Cast both Old and New Faces

     With every Toy Story feature, there is a lot ways to witness both old faces back on the big screen while meeting new ones with each installment. The Forth film definitely adds in terms of characters both old and new, but some missed opportunities have occurred in this department. Easily the best character in the film that is a fundamental to Toy Story is the legendary cowboy himself, Woody. Woody definitely has the most growth as a character in this film, having more maturity in his personality compared to all of the other films. Not only that but the character ends up learning more so in this film than he has in even the other installment, which adds a lot of mature theming to this film as a whole giving it so much more depth making its lead real last hurrah in the franchise. As for the other returning characters, they are still fun and add a lot of humor to this film, however they’re not given a whole lot to do in this movie story wise compared to other films. Side characters like Jessie, Ham, Trixie, and Rex do have some fun moments and lines but they never amount to too much in regards to plot. The only character that gets a little more time is of course everyone’s favorite Space Ranger, Buzz Lightyear. He joins the adventure a lot, and has a new gag in the film which, while pretty funny as a whole, seems a bit odd considering that it makes Buzz a lot less intelligent than one would initially think. The other older toys mostly do not have much to do since this film introduces a ton of new characters and luckily they actually are very well done in this feature. Forky being the main new addition to the team is a pretty funny character being one that adds a whole new concept for the series with toys being made and becoming sentient and this particular toy questioning his existence. A very clever concept, however the downside is, the film doesn’t really expand upon this idea of how toy become sentient beings and Forky himself becomes more of a plot device at points being the one that helps get Woody into this conflict to begin with. He still makes for a funny character, but he would have been stronger if he became more than just that plot device. The other new additions include a Stuntman type action figure named Duke Kaboom played by everyone’s favorite badass Keanu Reeves and a plush duo played by Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key, who are easily some of the funniest characters added into the toy story movies. They are ones that really give the film a personality and filled with a ton of fun moments that are downright hilarious, especially with Key and Peele’s characters in particular. The main antagonist in this movie is also done cleverly, without revealing too much, this character starts out as an expected villain but as the film goes on, you see the true nature behind this character, By the end, they become sympathetic and fascinating character to watch that you want to succeed which is very refreshing given Disney’s track record of twist villain reveals in recent films. By far the best new addition to Toy Story 4 isn’t so much a new character as much as it is an old favorite returning for the first time in decades. Bo Peep returns in Toy Story 4 and this time not only is she a better character being more than just a straight up love interest, but she ends up being the one to help Woody through his newfound journey. She adds to the whole theme of moving on, making for a very good dynamic and is also just an all-around enjoyable character to watch and great to see her return after her absence from Toy Story 3. While it is mixed at points, Toy Story 4’s characters definitely help flow the film along as one excellent character piece, especially for Woody himself.

Perfects The Craft this Series Revolutionized

    There is no denying Toy Story influence in the animation industry. The first film is very dated visually by today’s standards in terms of CG, despite looking incredibly impressive for the time. Now that Toy Story 3 came out being a vast improvement over the original visually and looking more on the quality of modern Pixar films, you would think that is when the medium of CGI was perfected for this franchise. Well, it seems like Pixar has done the impossible as Toy Story 4 is jaw dropping beautiful and might be the well-constructed Pixar movie at the moment. Right from the beginning, there’s a shot of a toy car struggling to get out of the mud in the rain and that particular shot looks so impressive from every aspect, you’d almost forget you’re watching an animated movie. Toy Story 4 amazes with its visuals with so many of the textures, shadows and lighting looking almost identical to real life, being incredibly impressive. However, unlike certain films that forget to put the charm and expressiveness with all of their impressive visuals, Toy Story 4 does not forget that it is an animated movie. The characters despite looking more real than ever, still have many expressive faces and movements in terms of how they are animated. Something as simple as a Spork with Googly eyes tends to have so much passion to how they emote and Toy Story 4 captures these animated characters beautifully. Toy Story 4 might be one of the most impressive animated films Pixar has ever made, and it has to be seen to be believed in terms of how masterful the artist’s work on this is.

Not A Perfect Finale, But A Good New Installment

     The question remains, does Toy Story 4 need to exist? After the witnessing this film, not necessarily, the third Toy Story concluded perfectly and in a way doesn’t need to have more movies. But now that a Forth is here, it is at least reassuring that despite not needing to exist, it is a very commendable effort to continue the Toy Story franchise. It’s a flawed piece of work from Pixar not taking full advantage of the opportunities it has, but it still is an incredibly charming movie with so much heart and character to. At the end of the day, that’s what Toy Story is all about, being a franchise that has a lot of heart with some of your favorite characters on a little adventure and the forth movie stands as a good Toy Story movie. It may not be the best in the series, but it still is a quality installment Pixar’s most famous franchise ever.

‘Godzilla King of the Monsters’ Fundamentally Flawed but Still Fun

    Over years of waiting and waiting, fans of the iconic Kaiju monster Godzilla have been dreaming of a film that showcases all of his Giant Monster Glory as a Proper Big Budget Style Blockbuster. The 2014 Godzilla reboot was a step in the right in direction in terms of treating the character with respect, but fell short on truly showcasing all of the Kaiju’s glory with a lack of the title character. Now with the sequel finally here, Godzilla is back and this time he’s not alone, with King of the Monsters reintroducing other iconic Godzilla allies and adversaries. Is this the Ultimate Godzilla film fans have been waiting for? In many ways yes, as Godzilla King of the Monsters does bring a lot of Mayhem and Destruction one would want from a Godzilla movie, even if there are some downsides and elements that aren’t as well structured.

Standard Plot But Knows What It Is

After the events of the 2014 Godzilla film, citizens have realized that Godzilla is not the only monster around. In fact decades hundreds of gigantic titan exists to help protect or destroy the world and now some of them are being summoned after catastrophic events occurring in the world. The threats get even bigger when a legendary monster known as King Ghidorah is set loose and between him and various other monsters set to face off against Godzilla, a gigantic monster mash ensues. The plot of the film is basically standard like that which doesn’t seem like much to hold on to as the story doesn’t go any further and whatever elements it does add are kind of convoluted. Not only does it get convoluted but some of the details aren’t as interesting behind the monster madness and it feels like it has maybe too much exposition when it comes to the plot. It feels very much like a set up movie in some regards with a lot of allusion to future events in later films and nods to both Kong Skull Island and Godzilla (2014). That is when the plot is going on, however when the film does get to what most tend to see a Kaiju film for, which is the destruction and monster battles, it fares much better in that regard. Luckily it doesn’t feel too overbearing with the standard story as there is a good amount of monster battles in this film, Where some may complaint that there was a lack of Godzilla in the 2014 film, this film definitely gives him and his monster allies and adversaries much more time to shine and it is downright epic to see these monsters in a film like this. For all the faults with the story, it at least knows what it is and gives the fans what they want, an over the top action movie with giant monsters and it’s satisfying in that regard.

Epic Monsters Outweigh Weak Humans

     With any Godzilla or Monster movie, the main appeal is of course the monsters but a lot of these films feel the need to have a human element for some audiences to latch on to. Unfortunately, this is where King of the Monsters suffers from the most is that the human characters are some of the most basic and uninteresting characters seen in a film in quite some time. They’re not so much cringe worthy but there isn’t much to their characters outside of what role they play in the film such as the Villain, the Main Scientists, or the Comedic Relief. Granted Godzilla movies and other films of this caliber tend to have weak human characters as well but there have been some examples of human characters being done well in these kinds of films. Godzilla (2014) at least had Bryan Cranston who was genuinely interesting and had a great backstory and Kong Skull Island had a few entertaining characters with Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly. This didn’t really have that, even if none of the actors do a downright terrible job, especially Ken Watanabe and Millie Bobbie Brown who might have the most effort when it came to how their characters were written. Fortunately, while the human characters are nothing special, the creatures are something extraordinary. Some of the major classic Godzilla Creatures finally make their big budget debut and they’re everything you’d want them to be in an updated Godzilla movie. Mothra and Rodan are given a much needed updated with more creature like textures and design making them look more badass than ever before. Ghidorah also looks phenomenal looking exactly how he should while also retaining more textures and having a more monstrous appearance for a modern day blockbuster. But the star of the show himself, Godzilla returns, being the best element of his last film now gets even more screen time than how he did before. Every single scene he has a presence and one that will give fans of the title character goosebumps just for witnessing all of his glory fighting various foes in a bombastic blockbuster experience. There are even a few other neat creatures seen throughout the film that add to King of the Monsters’ focus on monsters, giving this film an added bonus for monster movie lovers. King of the Monsters lives up to the name of being a monster mash of awesome even if it gets slow and dull during the human moments.

Spectacular Monsters Spectacle

One would hope for a big budget Godzilla movie to also look visually impressive and for the most part, King of the Monsters is a visual treat on a production level. However, it does somewhat fall short on a production level in comparison to Godzilla 2014 and Kong Skull Island. King of the Monsters does lack in scale and how grand the situation of Godzilla is that for all of its faults, the 2014 movie mastered beautifully with its low angle shorts and tension showcasing how massive Godzilla really is. Kong Skull Island while not quite as serious as Godzilla 2014 had a great sense of style with great use of the 1970s time period and Apocalypse Now style of filmmaking alongside it being a monster flick. King of the Monsters doesn’t quite have either of those things and if it does, it’s not as prominent or as noticeably as the previous two films of the Kaiju Cinematic Universe. What it does have is just a lot of action mayhem and moments that are for lack of a better term, “Anime as Hell”. There still is a sense of wonder and awe when seeing the monsters fight or cause any other sort of destruction to the world. Add in the previously mentioned well designed nature of Godzilla and his other monster companions, then you still get a movie that looks impressive. Not to mention, the sound design in this movie is also great with not only some great monstrous sounds of Godzilla and Ghidorah but fans will be delighted to hear that the original Godzilla theme finally makes an appearance in a big budget film. Every time the song is played, it just feels as right as a theme as epic and fitting like Godzilla’s original theme deserves to be remastered for a big budget film like this. The sights and sounds of Godzilla are incredible in this and even without as much style and flare to it, the monster mayhem and spectacle makes up for that shortcoming big time.

   Godzilla King of the Monsters may be fundamentally flawed from a story and character perspective but that is okay given the goal this movie had. This film was attempting to be nothing more than a fun summer blockbuster showcasing Godzilla and many other monsters with a ton of spectacle. If you’re looking for something more than that, you might be disappointed with how this film fares, but if you go in looking it as an entertaining time, you’ll be satisfied. Godzilla is back and while he might not be better than ever, he and his fellow adversaries gave a great show of impressive monster battles. It’s only a matter of time when fans will soon get to witness Godzilla fight King Kong again, and if it’s anything like how this film panned out, then we’ll have even more enjoyable monster madness in the future.